Toy railway



Jan. 4, 1938. G E N LT 2,104,510

TOY RAILWAY Filed Jan. 25, 1957 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOY RAILWAYGeorg Einfalt, Nuremberg, Germany Application January 25, 1937, SerialNo. 122,318 In Germany February 6, 1936 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a modification of the toy rack railwaydescribed in the United States Patent No. 1,997,512 of April 9th, 1935,in which the driving mechanism is provided with automatic locking andreleasing means.

The invention consists in the combination of an intermittently operatingdriving mechanism of the character described in the said United StatesPatent with a device for the production of sparks in order to give aplaying child, by the production of large sparks, a visible and rathernaturally appearing demonstration of the application of full power whenthe vehicle ascends an incline.

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanyingdrawing, in which Figure 1 shows in longitudinal section a vehicle on asection of the track provided with the automatically locking andreleasing device for the driving mechanism and the spark producingdevice, and

Figure 2 is a plan view thereof.

The vehicle suitable for ascending and descending along the rail andprovided with an automatically locking and releasing device is fullydescribed in the United States Patent No. 1,997,512 above referred to;it comprises, however, three further driving axles. The toothed wheel bmounted on the winding axle o engages with the teeth on the driving axlec, the driving wheel d of which engages with the toothed axle e. Theintermediate toothed wheel mounted on the latter axle engages with thedriving axle g carrying the friction wheel h. Against the latterfriction wheel the periphery of which is toothed transversely, knurledor otherwise rendered rough, there abuts a cerium-iron flint i oranother pyrophorous metal attached to one end of a two-arm pressurelever l capable of easily rocking around a pivot and the lower arm m ofwhich ensures, by its special formation or by the provision of a specialweight, that the said flint i shall abut against the periphery of thefriction wheel h.

The driving mechanism above described is made capable of running along atrack by being provided with running axles n carrying running wheels 0provided at the ends thereof. The Whole of the mechanism is mountedwithin a suitably stamped casing p, which, in the present example, ismade to resemble a modern high speed locomotive having a short chimney qwithin which the friction wheel h is mounted and through which thesparks pass into the open.

The rails required to complete the toy consist, as described in theUnited States Patent No. 1,997,512, of the descending rails r, which maybe smooth or have a profile corresponding to the track, and ascendingrails t provided with teeth s. As explained in the said patent therunning mechanism includes a pawl u lying within the range of the teethof the rack rail, which pawl is mounted in the recess of a curved member'0 having a guiding slot and within this guiding slot the pawl slidesover the driving axle w, on which axle is mounted a special toothedwheel a: for engaging in the teeth of the rack rail. In the teeth ofthis special toothed wheel a tongue on the pawl engages so that when thepawl is lifted by impinging against the teeth of the rack rail the motorcan run down and when the pawl is dropped the motor is locked.

When a vehicle such as above described, after having been wound up,rolls down a descending section of the rail track provided withdescending and ascending sections, it will move forward merely by itskinetic energy, without the power of its driving mechanism coming intoaction. This portion of the running of the vehicle represents therunning of a locomotive (to which any other vehicle may be coupled),without steam along the inclined part of the rail 1. Only upon thevehicle coming against a tooth s of the rail section t, which is toothedalong its whole length, is the driving mechanism released, as explainedin the above mentioned U. S. A. patent. Now the rotation of the wheelsof the driving mechanism will cause not only an ascending of the vehiclealong the ascending rail 12 by the engagement of a toothed wheel withthe teeth provided on the rail t, but will also render visible thestrong sparks which will escape through the chimney q. By the engagementof the toothed wheel b with the driving axle c and by means of theintermediate axle e and intermediate wheel 1, the driving axle g andtherewith the friction wheel h is caused to rotate at a high speed.Owing to the flint z abutting against the periphery of the rotatingfriction wheel, sheaves of sparks are produced in a known manner. Theseare especially strong, since the pressure lever l carrying the flint isnot rigidly mounted and can thus rock easily, whereby under 45 theaction of the lower lever arm m. acting as a counter-weight, anyunevenness between the friction wheel and the flint is equalized.

The ejection of the sparks through the chimney of the locomotive in adirection towards the 50 stand of the driver, owing to the properpositioning of the friction wheel, while running up an ascending rail,produces the impression, not only in the case of a child but of anyobserver, that the locomotive requires much power to overcome 55 theascent, and has thus to make use of full steam when ascending, as isalmost always the case with industrial locomotives; especially as in thelatter case, the exhaust steam escaping through the chimney in mostcases is accompanied by an intensive escape of sparks from the fire-box.

Instead of enclosing the driving gear with the additional means for theproduction of sparks within a casing resembling a locomotive, the samemay be mounted within a casing resembling any other industrial vehicle,and the rail system be adapted to imitate the surroundings appropriatefor the running of such a vehicle. For instance, the whole system ofsmooth descending rails and toothed ascending rails may be adapted, forinstance, by some special covering, to imitate a hilly covering placeand the vehicle be made to resemble an armoured car adapted to fire whenattacking a hill. In this case the direction of rotation of the frictionwheel will have to be altered so that the sheaves of sparks are directedforward for instance from the barrels of guns "mounted in a gun tower ofthe armoured car.

What I claim is:- 1. A toy railway vehicle in combination with I atoothed rail; driving means and automatic looking and releasing meanstherefor mounted on said vehicle, the said locking and releasing meansincluding a toothed wheel adapted to engage in the teeth or the rail anda pawl guided to move vertically and adapted to come in contact with theteeth of the rail and having a tongue adapted to engage with the teethof the said wheel to lock the wheel when the pawl is in its lowerposition and to release the wheel when the pawl is lifted by impingingagainst the teeth of said rail; a spark producing device consisting of afriction wheel, a spark producing flint abutting against the peripheryof the friction wheel; a two-arm leverhaving a pivot on which the leveris mounted in a nonrigid manner, the said lever carrying at the upperend the said flint and being weighted at its lower end; driving axlesand intermediate wheels interposed between the driving means and thefriction Wheel and adapted to drive the latter at a high speed when thedriving means are released; and the track having descending smooth railsections and ascending toothed rail sections, whereby the sparkproducing device is rendered operative only While the vehicle moves upthe rail.

2. A toy railway vehicle as claimed in claim 1 having a casingresembling a locomotive in which the whole of the mechanism is enclosed,the said casing having a short chimney over the spark producing devicethrough which the sparks pass into the open.

GEORG EINFALT.

